Injuries or stress on any joint in the body can create difficulties for a person to perform a variety of daily activities such as work, play, sleep, and exercise. Prolonged stress or an acute injury to a joint may require medical intervention that may be costly, painful, and prolonged by additional stress to the joint during healing such as from daily activity requiring use of the joint and pressure from an improper sleep position.
The human shoulder has the greatest range of motion of any joint in the body. The shoulder joint comprises four muscles and their associated tendons that are referred to as the rotator cuff, which is surrounded by a bursa sac for accommodating movement of the tendons. Injury or trauma to the shoulder joint may comprise bursitis, tendonitis, arthritis, rotator cuff tears, calcification of the joint, subluxation (instability of the joint due to stretched or torn ligaments), dislocation, and/or actual breakage of the humerus, scapula, and/or clavicle bones.
Treatment of shoulder joint injuries may comprise non-invasive techniques such as physical therapy and/or pain relief and anti-inflammatory medications. However, invasive techniques including shoulder replacement (shoulder arthroplasty), cortisone injections, and surgical repair of rotator cuff tears are also used in cases where a poor outcome from nonsurgical treatment is indicated, such as a long duration of symptoms and larger rotator cuff tears.
Recovery from a shoulder injury requires a person to endure pain, tenderness, swelling, and stiffness of the shoulder joint. The person may also experience numbness or tingling of the arm or hand where nerves have been affected in the shoulder area. Therapy to rehabilitate an injured shoulder joint may require limited or complete cessation of use of the affected arm, followed by progressive range-of-motion exercises and strength training.
The process of recovering from a shoulder joint injury may cause prolonged sleep disturbances. Traditional mattresses, pillows, recliners, and other methods and tools used for sleep may add pressure to an injured shoulder or cause stress or soreness to the neck, back, and opposite shoulder where certain sleep positions may be favored to help reduce pressure on the injured shoulder. For example, sleeping exclusively on the opposite shoulder may result in a sore arm. Further, sleeping in a supine position on the back may cause flattening of the lumbar curve resulting in misalignment of one or more lumbar vertebrae and/or pain where the shoulder is in contact with the bedding surface as the body sinks into the bed.
Side sleeping using the traditional sleep methods and/or tools may aggravate several medical conditions in addition to a damaged shoulder joint. For example, side sleeping may cause pain for people with asymmetrical muscular tonus in the neck and/or shoulder, a subluxated head of the humerus, and/or arthritis in the shoulder and/or cervical thoracic spine. Further, sleeping on the side of the body without adequate support for the head and chest may compress the shoulder into the trunk, causing muscular and ligamental tension in the shoulder girdle and neck possibly, and may inhibit normal respiration by constricting the ribs.
Sleep devices to assist with shoulder or neck discomfort generally comprise the strategic placement of traditional bed pillows under the body to relieve pressure and sleep systems that reduce pressure on the shoulder or other part of the body. These sleep devices have numerous problems with providing consistent comfort for the sleeper.